Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 December 1875 — Page 6

variety and humor.

of ice been manufactured at Austin, Tex. —White people, it js proved, can labor in the fields of Louisiana, where-formerly the climate waaconsideaedan insurmountable barrieir. —Von Bidow thinka.it was a revelation in journalism that when he played In Boston a Rost on paper should the morning gfre a criudism. —A New Orleans merchant went to , La., tn collect a debt, and failing to get the cash he rolled tlie debtor in the mud, broke his nose and gave him a receipjHn tfull.| ? \ , —A iijhn put his witch under his pillow Abe qUiet nijht, Un' Couldn't keep it there Ig'cause it disturbed his slpep. And tlierc ail the time was his bed-ticking right underneath him, and he never thought ot that at all.— Detract Mee Press. , ,-AWW Paper says lhat/orty of the ' jWng Judges at Harvard Callage recently UsfrpWWoMie day, and that they arc being pursued .with guns. The people over the witer try to be friendly, but they do mix up things in a wonderful manner. —“ Wail, I’lidiyorcc you this time,but another decree shall you haw rroto th:s court tffl you are eighteen,” MQtJni Judge at Sioux City, ns he granted a divorce to a petitioner of sixteen, and awarded her the custody of the child. —Caraare being fault South like refrigerators. They are to be used in the conveyance of tropical fruits next summdr iVbm Florida to Chicago via Nashville. They will beMittaehed to passenger trains aiifi b ill be siflit through Within threedays' lime. —Weston has beaten O’Leary—that is, lie would hare beaten O’Leary if O’lxiiry hadn't gone so far out of his way to beat him; After ail, ft is best that he didn't spoil a glorious record by succeeding in what he undertook to do Chicago InierOcean. -4-A ha rsq owned by a Dartmouth man was fright cried to death by the Cars at New Bedford, Mass., the other day. Hi& owner, knowing him to be afraid of the ears, was holding him while a train was passing, and he suddenly dropped and riev er moved again. •* —They were talking of a death yesterday. when one man asked: “ What were his last words?” " Hc'didn’t say anything.” was the reply. “ That’s just like hlul.” safdflje first man, with an approving nod. "There was fio gas about him; he was all Danbury Netos. ■ —it jdoesu’t dp for a fastidious man to marry ofie of those, too gushing dreatures who arc utterly untainted by the conventionalities oi society. A ( ie.veland man recently jfcousulted a divorce lawyer‘"beeauso hiswife ran into a rooml’ull of company with a turkey-bone in her mouth. —A rather charming-looking young lady visited the office of the Chief of Police at Toledo, Ohio, .recently with a com plaint against a young man who, because -he would not quarry him, had sought revtuge- by meeting her on the street and ruining ft line dress by throwing acid upon it. ” f —Delf Norris, 'of Darby Township, Delaware County, Pa., |>ointed a gun at Charles I’rice, a colored lad, a few days ago, surprising the fire-arm to be unloaded. The gun went off, tearing the

entire lower part of Price’s face away and scattering Tils teeth and jaws over the •pom. ■■■£ T*he quantity St Juiiibcr’used for the construction of peach-boxes this year at Salisbury, Md., amounted to 2,000,000 feet, but the quantity of lumber used for the coffins of little boys who ate of the ijßiit can be determmed only by -Vbdnveijttori of undertakers. — St. Louis maiden lady tip in Johns* • town, N. Y., who was disappointed in love several years ago, then pledged herself never to cul her toe-nails again. Love, you know, produces strange results, Her toe-nails are now so long that she cannot wear shoes, so she remains seclUded and goes barefooted. —The Shelbyville (Ky.) Republican says that, the worst case of selfishness that it has been permitted to present to the public emanated from a youth who complained because his mother put a bigger mustard-plaster on his younger brother than she did on him, alter they had been eating melons and hard apples. —A new dodge has been played on some ■of the farmers'in this ootnity. Thieves would go into the corn-field at night, turn the shock upsidp down and steal" off the ears from the inside of the shock, and then stand it up again. The trick was •discovered when the porn was taken in for husking.— Sgracute (N. Y.) Journal. —Gov. Thayer, of Wyoming Territory, in his annual message directs attention to the fact that! within six months, along the lin*M>f the Pacific Railroad, not less than 3,000 elk have been slaughtered for the hides alone, the flesh being thrown away, and he recommends the enactment of laws imposing severe penalties for such a wholesale massacre of game. —ln a small piece of woods near the Five Milg House, in Cumri Township, Berks County, Pa., where the blackbirds flocked together in great numbers to roost, not less than 500 of their number were killed during a recent storm at night by the trees lashing against each other. 'The ground was literally covered with birds the next morning. —A man in Digby, Nova Scotia, left his cow In the barn all night recently, but when hfe went around inffhe morning she had disappeared. A search revealed her in the hay-loft overhead, whither she had climlied by a halt-ladder and half-stair arrangement. A hole had to be cut in the floor and a tackle rigged in order to get Mme. Cow down to her proper level a g“ in - sfc ~ —ln a Baker street car yesterday some men were talking about tire nerve of William Tell in shooting an apple off his son’s -head. To vex an oW lady who was listening one of the men said: “ That was Mr- Tell; but what did his wife amount to—why doesn’t history mention her?” “I’ll bes a hundred dollars!”, called the old lady in an excited voice— I’ll bet a hundred dollars that she sat up half the night before patching that boy’s trousers so he'd look decent to go out!”— Jfan>ii Pree Preet. —Horace Twpjs was one of the readiest and most amusing talkers in the world, and when he began to make his way in London society, which he eventually did very successfully, ill-natured persons con.sidered his first step in the right direction ■tfl have been a repartee made in the crushroom of the opera, while standing close to Lady L , who was waiting for her carriage. A num he was with saying: “ Look at that fat Lady L isn’t she like a great white cabbage ?” “ Yes,’ ’ answered Horace, in a discreetly loud tone, “ she is like one, all heart, I believe.” The white heprt cabbage turned affably to the rifling barrister, begged him to see her to

<bfer carriage, and gave him the entree of H house. IjorQ Clarendon subsequently put him iu Parliament fori his .borough of Wootton.Basset, and for a short time he formed part of the Ministry, holding one of the under-Secretaryships. He was clever, amiable, and good-tem-pered, and had every qualification for success in society.—Jfr«. Kemble, in the Atlantic for December. • •

A Lover’s Mania.

It is an old saying that one-balf of the world is not aware how the other half lives. Tlus saying, which is both old and common, may be fully illustrated in the. life and death of Ephraim Canton, who died in a town not twenty miles from West Troy last Sunday evening. At Uptime of bis death Mr. Canton was fifty-eight years old,-and fertile last thirty-nine years of his life never saw but four humajp lieings, and during the same period never'’ set eyes on the sun, moon, stars or tire bright, arching heavens. Neither did he see the hilte, vail ms or forests of hisnatfve country. He did not hear of the great civil war thaLcame so near destroying the great model republic of the world. He <iied in ignorance of the emancipation of the negroes, and never heard of any of the great questions that troubled the pub? lie mind during that period of time. In the month of January, 1835, Ephraim Chnton, then a young man about twentyone years old, formed the acquaintarfce of a young lady of rare accomplishments arid beauty in Cohoes, and immediately became smitten with her beauty, and proposed for her hand in marriage. The lady at first seemed favorable to his suit, ami gave him sufficient encouragement to insure success. and finally promised to become his wife. The day that the ceremony of the marriage was to take place was appointed, which was to be the 20th of May, 18313. Early on the morning of that day Mr. Canton, accompanied by a suite of his friends, set out from his native, village in the direction of Cohoes, with the intention of getting married and bringing back his blooming wife to his home in the country village where he was long regarded by the fair sex as the beau ideal of a young’ man. When the party reached the home of his affianced they were astonished at seeing no preparations made for- their reception, and Mr. Canton inquired the cause of his mother-in-law that was to be. That lady informed him that on the night previous her daughter, his expected wife, departed for the city of New'York, making no excuse for her departure, bnt left a note for him, which read as follows:

Mr. Canton—ln consequence of stories damaging to your character that L have heard, I hereby cancel my engagement to become your wife, and at.the same time request you to forget me as soon as possible. With my best wishes for your future welfare, 1 remain, »youia, etc., Emily. The disappointed groom made the best of the inevitable for the-time being, and entreated his friends to return home, making some excuse why the ceremony coujd not come off that day. They all returned home and Mr. Canton’s mother, on hearing of the disapjxiintment, sympathized with her son and advised him to go to bed and sleep off tlie effects of it, and when he got up in tlie morning he would feel better. Tlie humiliated son took her, advice and retired to his room; taking with him some carpenter’s tools that he possessed. He carefully locked his bedroom door as soon as he had enteredit, and then commenced to cut a small one-foot-square window tlirough the wooden partition that divided his bedroom from the parlor. He then fixed his bed so that he could reach tlie window with his hand without leaving the bed, and then called his mother and told her to pass his food tlirough that window to him, to admit no visitors to see him, and finally if she knew what was safe not to make any effort to gnter his room herself. Notwithstanding this warning, she was nearly every hour of the following days begging of her son to get up, but it was of no avail. She then thought to starve him out, and refrained from giving him food for thirtysix hours,, but that had no effect, and finally she sent for a neighboring man, and witli his assistance broke in the bedroom door and entered. But the son was still refractoiy and refused to speak to any person, and all the efforts made and inducements offered could not prevail on him to speak one word or leave the bed. We have not time nor space to mention all” the ruses that were made to git him to leave the room, all of which failed, and to make a long story short he never left his bedroom from that May morning in 1836 until he was taken from it for his coffin on last Sunday afternoon. During the thirty-nine years that he remained in bed he never spoke but to four meu and his mother, and never inquired for anyone or anything in the outside world. His life is shrouded in mysteiy, - and probably will remain so. He lost his reason when he lost his bride.- -Troy (N. JT.j Press.

Hew James Nesbit Made His Will.

The wreck of the Pacific serves as a reminder ot another terrible disaster which, in July, 1855, befell the steamer Brother Jonathan at a point near that where the former vessel met her fate. The Brother Jonathan was a sister ship of the Pacific, and while working in a heavy sea plunged on a sunken rock, tore a hole in her bottom, through which the foremast dropped until stopped by a yard crossing the deck, and in a few minutes went to the bottom. Ot the 152 passengers on board only sixteen survived. One incident which served to render that catastrophe memorable is recalled by the Troy Timet. Among the lost passengers of the Brother Jonathan was James Nesbit, editor of the San Francisco Evening Bulletin, a Scotchman by birth, whose coolness in the presence of inevitable death placed him in the rank of heroes. After the doomed steamer began to give' signs that efforts to save her were futile, amid the warring of the elements, the confusion of the crew and the wild terror of the passengers, he calmly wrote his last will and testament in a small pocket-diary, and proved his entire nonchalance by omitting not one item of his property, and by appending a request to the authorities to probate the document, notwithstanding the. fact that it was written with a pencil and unwitnessed. The chirography of the will and the firm, bold signature were remarkably well executed. When his body was found on the beach, some twenty days afterward, it was discovered that Hie had wrapped the little book in a bandanna handkerchief, folded cornerwise, tied it next his skin across his breast, and afterward tied his handkerchief around his waist outside his shirt, the more securely to confine the will to his body, that every chance should exist of finding both together. -The will was admitted to probate. * The man who doesn’t read the advertisements in a newspaper is like the traveler who passes ajpng a strange road without consulting the guide-boards.

AGRICULTURAL AND DOMESTIC.

—An English wfiter says: There exists no satisfactory evidence or proof that Italian either breed or work better than common bees. -—ln order to takte out sewing-machine oil, wash with cold water and soap. Wetting. jt with hot water leaves an indelible stain.— Exchange. —Four thousand eight hundred and forty square yards make an acre; a square mile, 640 acres. To measure an acre, 209 feet on"each side make asquare acre within an |incl}. Where glasses are used for hyacinths the dark-colored ones should be selected, and these placed in the dark till the roots fill tiie. base of die glass. The .water should be changed xinde a week and not allowed to freeze. • . —To make water sponge-cake take one tunjbler of sugar, into which rub the yelks of two... teggs? Beat the whites by themselves and add them the last tiling. One tumbler flour, one-half tumbler cold water, one and one-half teaspoons of baking powder. Bake in two tin pie plates about fifteen or twenty minutes.

—The following is one way to cut a bottle in two: Turn the bottle as evenly as possible over a low flame for about ten minutes. Then dip steadily in water; and the sudden cooling Will cause a regular crack to encircle the side at the heated place, allowing the portions to be easily separated.— Scientific American. ’ --Generally speaking it is better to apply limo in the compost with straw, leaves and other waste of the farm, or else to spread it broadcast in a slacked form. Lime can be applied iu the fall unslacked ilnd allowed to remairuofl the surface over winter or plowed in very shallow. We should not hesitate to apply in the fall in its crude form, breaking up the larger lumps. It will soon slack and gradually work into the soil. If applied, in the spring we should prefer to have it furslacked.—Ma»sach usetts Ploughman. —Gen. Colquitt, of Georgia, in a recent address, said: “To remove stumps from a field all that As necessary is to have one or more sheet-iron chimneys some four or five feet high. Set tire to the stump and place the chimney over it so as to give the requisite draft at the bottom. It will draw like a stove. The stump will soon be consumed. With several such chimneys of different sizes the removal of stumps may be accomplished at merely nominal labor and expense.— Maryland Farmer.

—Stove rooms that are not properly ventilated are ruinous to growing plants. The whole atmosphere in the conservatories of florists is always kept so moist .that a person when entering observes the dampness. Yet such an atmosphere is congenial to tender plants. Most growing plants become sickly and “ drawn up” in the parlors of our first-class houses, while in those of less pretensions we frequently see them vigorous and flourishing. In houses without “modern improvements” the air is not heated until its.capacity for moisture is such as to greedily take it from the plants, as well as from'the persons who dwell there; nor are the windows sealed so tightly that the plants cannot have a breath of fresh air ftofa without. If people will make a climate in their houses like that ,of a desert they must ebntent themselves with such plants as are naturally adapted to arid regions.— Gardeners' 1 Monthly.

Fall Planting.

The question is often asked, When is the best time to plant fruit trees? We answer that upon all soils suitable for an orchard the fall is the best time. The fall is a season of comparative leisure with the farmer and ample time is afforded him to prepare the ground thoroughly and to dig the holes of large size and to prepare the work in the most perfect manner. In the spring a thousand jobs are pressing upon the farmer, all demanding his immediate attention, and the orchard is usually deferred to the last, when every oilier crop would suffer less by the delay. If a tree is planted, in the fall the earth becomes firmly settled abound the roots before spring, and if the weather should prove, as it frequently does, warm in February and March young roofs will be formed often three inches long; and if the planting is delayed nntil spring, after these roots have put out, they are broken off and lost in the act of removal from the nursery, and consequently so much of the vital energy of the tree is lost in the effort of nature to repair tlie injury. If planting is delayed until spring it is almost always put off until a late period after the bufis have considerably swelled and many of the fibrous roots have put out, these then become dried and many of them are lost, and the dry weather that frequently follows causes the death of thousand of trees annually. In fall planting, if the soil is dry and porous, as it should be, tlie ground around the tree may be left level; but if the subsoil is of a wet, retentive character the earth should be raised two or three inches around the trunk of the tree, to the full diameter or the hole, in order to turn the excess of water from the roots. Trees should not be removed from the nursery until sufficient frost has occurred to entirely suspend vegetation and the leaves have mostly fallen.— Rural World.

Shelter tor Stock.

The proper sheltering of, stock during the winter months is a subject which has never received proper attention from farmers and stock-raisers throughout the West. Yet it is one in which they are deeply interested, every motive of self-in-terest, as well as humanity, demanding that dumb animals should be well housed during the driving snows and freezing storms of midwinter. Already the weather is turning cold, and before long the snow, and sleet and northern winds will conspire to envelop us in a biting, arctic atmosphere. All tlie signs presage a hard winter for man and beast. Indeed, -we may say that every winter in this region is hard on horses and cattle, and that gdbd shelter is absolutely essential to their comfort and healthy condition. Notwithstanding this it is much to be regretted that many of our farmers permit their stock to go through the worst of the winter without any protection from the inclemencies of the weather save such as’ they might find under friendly trees or tinder the eaves of old barns ’ and outhouses. There are others who provide shelter, but in such an inadequate manner that little comfort is secured to the dumb beasts. The annual losses in valuable horses, cows and sheep from exposure to the snows and sleets of our frigid winters are much greater than is generally supposed, and would figure up to an amount perfectly astonishing to the entire country. In Western Texas last year the loss of cattle from freezing amounted to over $1,000,000. If the storms of winter

bring such fatality to cattle in a country where the climate is usually equable and temperate. what must we expect in a latitude where the thermometer marks twenty degrees below zero ? Besides the large number of animals that actually die there are thousands either partially or totally disabled by the influenza, distemper and various other diseases which are superihduced by‘exposure. Horses are just as liable to rheumatism, pneumoniaand fever as human beings, and they need protect ,tion from the heat and cold as well as we. Therefore, humanity as well as self-inter-est requires that no person who has the care of stock should neglect to secure ample sheds for them during cold or stormy Weather, such as will not only protect them from the rain and snows from above, but also the fierce, raw winds that prevail so largely in the West during certaih periods of the winter. ( Many farmers entertain the mistaken idea that all a farm journal requires is plenty of food and water, and that, so far as shelter is concerned, ngture has provided a skin and a physical anatomy for beasts which defy the rigors of winter. This erroneous belief, coupled - with a consequent failure to properly care for stock, is the cause of the l ameness, wheezing land general inefficiency of many plow-horses durin* the period of spring plowing. There are, perhaps, a few who arc induced, from feelings of parsimony, to omit to make tlie necessary Outlays in building sheds and stables, hut we are constrained to believe that this class is quite limited, and that the Source of so much suffering among livestock during the cold season is either the ignorance or laziness of the owner. It is a subject entitled to the serious consideration of all stock-owners, and a better time than now to begin tlie reform could not be elected. — St. Louis GlobeDemocrat.

High Farming.

The English Agricultural Gazette contains the following admirable article on “farming: “ What are you giving foroats just now, Mr. Drake?” we asked, when engaging a carriage at a livery-stable. " Thirty-four shillings a quarter, sir,” was the reply. " Thirty-four shillings a quarter! Why, you can buy fair oats for a shilling a bushel less than that.” “ Yes, sir, I know that, too; but I have long since learnt that it is never good policy to buy or use a second-rate article;” - To what department of tanning, we wonder, does not this maxim apply, and in what department does it not need enforcement? Second-rate liorses incur as great a daily cost, and yield much less in return. Second-rate 'food for horses, cheaper though it be, produces “footpounds” of force per shilling of its cost. Second-rate implements produce an inferior result at more expense of draught. Second-rate laborers often do but half per shilling of their smaller wages.- Secondrate varieties of jvheat. oats, barley,beans and peas extract and use just as much fertility from the soil in the production of their inferior yield. Second-rate cattle consume as much food, yielding perhaps but a pound of meat or a gallon of milk a day, increasing meanwhile little, sometimes nothing, or even less than nothing, daily, while first-rate stock, yielding a double or even a quadruple return, consume no more in doing it. Second-rate management generally - may be quite as costly qs that which is first-rate, differing frdm it far more in its deficient yield than in the expense at which it is directed.

Take the live stock of tlie farm for example : How many head of stock on most, farms under listless management are there not which are doing literally nothing, making no progress, if kept as growing or trotting stock, or improving but a litwith others Hvhich are prosperous and productive. They are consuming just as much, and in the one case are mere machines for destroying farm produce, in the other they, afe machines for wasting it. We believe that next to skill in choosing or" in breeding stock the profit of the stock-keeper depends on promptitude and resolution in selling, palling with, dispatching it as soon as it is seen that it is not prospering. Of course if every one acted on a maxim of this kind the value of such stock in the mar ket would soon reach the level which properly belongs to its character, and the loss on sales might then almost equal tlie loss in keeping; but in the meantime those who act with greatest promptitude in weeding out inferior stock certainly have the advantage. The fact that stock which is not prospering is jm& a machinery for the destruction of farm produce ought to startle many a man’who will read these words. Let'him . remember, too, that all live stock are inevitably machines for destroying a certain portion daily, which is as directly wasted and burnt up in every animal that feeds as if it had been put on the Are. How 1 much greater the premium then on keeping cattle, whose fattening is done in a lifetime of 700 days, than on keeping those - whose fattening requires 1,200 days or ■more. The weeding of the flock ana herd upon a farm is a part of live-stock management which needs as much promptitude and decision as the weeding of crops and fields. And this brings us to the other great agricultural department to which Mj. Darke’s maxim especially applies. If it be unquestionable policy to confine ourselves to first-rate articles when choosing the individual animals or the best varieties of the different crops we cultivate, how much more obviously is it not necessary that we avoid devoting the fertility of our soil, or any portion of it, to the growth ot plants which not only are not marketable, but which ate mischievous. Why should weeds be, as they seem, from almost universal practice and expe-, rience to be, a necessary part of farm management? They occupy the space in which good plants would grow—they consume the §>od on which good plants would prosper—their worthless lives involve expenditure, which might otherwise have gone to increase the number ot valuable lives upon the farm, or the ability of the farm to feed them. The fight with weeds costs far more on the farm which is always foul than on the farm' which is always clean. And more than that, we engage to say that, given a larm overrun with thistles, bindweed,, couch and coltsfoot, at the commencement of a tenancy, the man who at the end of ten years finds he has succeeded in getting it and keeping it clean has spent less in fallow work and wages than the man who, having all these years maintained an unsuccessful fight, at length leaves the farm but little cleaner than he found it. If it be impolitic to buy or keep oj use a “second-rate article,” as we learnt from the experience we have quoted, it is unquestionably the extreme of folly to permit such mere incumbrance, worthlessness and wastefulness as we incur by harboring weeds? And so ends for the present this short agricultural homily, founded on the text with which the maxim of the livery-stable keeper furnished us.

Some of the Venable

Another characteristic tree of the forests of Northern and Ceiftra! India is the Sal (Shorea robusta), a gigantic tree of the remarkable family Dipteraceas. About fifty species of this family are known, and all are natives of the East Indies, and among the noblest specimens of the tropical fauna. The Sal is a majestic inhabitant of the forest, sending aloft its straight where it spreads out its broad, heavy crown of rich, green foliage. Its simple leaves are long and tapering, and deeply veined, and its flowers are hatadsome and showy. The tree furnishes one of the best timbers found in India, and is used in building ships, Railways, etc. It also yields large quantities of balsamic resin, which is burned in the Hindoo temples, and is much sought by comnferce. Allotthe species of the Dipteracece abound-in balsamic resin. ■ One yields the hard camphor of Sumatra; another a gum called the Indian copafr and another a resin which makes excellent candles that burn with a pure light, diffusing the w’hile an agreeable fragrance. Most of the trees in the ludian forests are distinguishable for some useful property ; but the species affording gums and resins are among those most highly valued. Next to the dhak and dhammer resihs produced by the Diptcrkds are prized tlie gums exuded by the Baboul and the Sired (Acacia Arabica" and Specibsa), caller! gum-arabic in commerce; the astringent cachiou, obtained- from the Rheir (Acatchu)-, and the fragrant resin labatia, which is burned as incense, and is the product of the Salei, a shrub (Boswellia thurifera). It is supposed that this resin is the olibanum or frankincense of tire ancients.

In addition to these natural juices, the resin shell-lac, produced by an artificial process, is deposited in abundance upon the branches of the w’ild-plum and the Pittas. This gum is drawn from the trees by the lac insect (coccus lacca), which lives in vast colonies upon then 1 twigs—generation after generation dwelling in the same spot and accumulating, by means of ptfnctures through the bark, a -mass of resin, often encircling the twigs with a case half an inch thick. The Nim (Melia agiderach) is a noble tree, named, from its stately beauty, the “Pride of India.” It attains a height of about forty feet, and has large bipinnate leaves and showy spikes of very fragrant flowers. Its fruit is shaped like an elongated cherry, is colored a pale yellow, and contains a brown nut. These nuts are" bored ahd used for beads by the Homan Catholics. The Nim has long been cultivated as an ornamental tree in the south of Europe, and has-been introduced into the Southern States, where it is now quite common. The young shoots and leaves are said to have powerful febrifuge qualities, and the seeds, falsely reputed poisonous, yield an excellent oi'l. if The majestic Simoul (Bombax Indicum) is one of the silk-cotton trees belonging to the natural order Sterculacia}. The seeds of these trees lie imbedded in a mass of silky cotton packed around them in the large, woody capsules. The substance cannot beMvoven as the hairs composing it are too short and smooth to be spun by machinery; but it makes luxurious stuffing for pillows, mattresses, etc.—the only fault being that it soon breaks and grinds to powder. The silk of the Bombax nillosun, is of a beautiful purple and is manufactured into cloth and made into articles of dress in New Spain. The Bombax indicum yields a gum which is used by the natives as a medicine. Besides these trees, the mango, with its cooling shade, its fragrant leaves and delicious fruit; the tamarind, a beautiful tree, with pinnate leaves and fragrant flowers and pods filled with a pleasantlyacidulous pulp that is much relished; the teak, which sometimes rises to the height of 200 feet and affords a most durable timber, partfcularly~precious because not liable to the attacks of insects; the Tendon, which produces ebony, so invaluable for cabinet work, and also a pulpy fruit much esteemed by tlie natives; the Strychnoß, which gives the deadly nux-vomica; and various species bf the tig-tree add to the wealth and magnificence of Indian forests. The only palms that grow in the interior of Hindostan are the date-plams, which, occurring infrequently, do not present any greater luxuriance than in the south of Europe. The cocoa-trees are confined to a narrow zone on the coast of India, beyond which they are unknown. The oldest and largest banyan in India stands on the banks of Narbudda, near the village of Broach, in Northern Kohan. Tradition declares that it was planted the sage Kabira, long prior to the Christian era. At one time its spreading branches, supported on constantly-increasing columns, covered a space more than 1,000 yards in circumference. At the commencement of the present century a hurricane tore away a considerable portion of the tree, and now its cjrcujnfereuice is reduced to 666 yards. Tlie main trunk long ago disappeared, and in its place a Hindoo temple has been erected. The tree forms a small forest of itself, apd it is with difficulty that one can penetrate through flic tangle of roots and branches, and find his way in the gloom created by the foliage, to the temple in the eenter. The moist, spongy soil from which the tree springs swarms with scorpions ;while hosts of large bats, called flying foxes, abide under the shelter of its leaves.— M. Rousselet.

Doings at the Detroit Police Court.

“Was I evera pirate ’i” echoed Bijah as he pounded the Ucfor-mat against the tireplug to clean out the dust. And then placing his hand on the newsboy’s head he softly said: “No, my son, I never was a pirate. My folks were poor, and there was no chance in those old days for a boy to get along. I was forced to go to school, work, and come up poor, while there was a splendid opening to become a pirate and make a heap ot money.” “And were you alius as good as you are now?” asked the lad. “ Just the same, my boy. I wanted to be a prize-fighter, dr a burglar, or something, but I was alwdys chained down, and here I am uqw, working for two dollars a day and furnishing my own postage-stamps, when I might have been a stage-coach robber just as well as not.” THE CASE OF TAYLOR. The first prisoner out had a more lonely look than a drifting sailor, and he frankly acknowledged that he wouldn’t have got drunk for a million dollars if he had known how it would make him feel. “If this had been a quiet drunk," remarked His Honor, as he closely inspected an apple to see if a torpedo hadn’t been inserted into it, “ I might overlook it, but you planned for a regular old Potomac jamboree, and you had it. You kicked a boy on the leg; you upset a peanut stand; you whooped and yelled, and the great State of Michigan demands that you be bounced.” “ Oh! sir, I have got a big family on my hands!” *

“Forwhich I afil softy, MF-'Tiylor. However, I don’t think they willows any bread and butter by missing you.’’ “I’ll sign the pledge, your Honor.” “Too late—too late. You.were here only ten days ago, and your face plainly shows that you prefer whisky to, good beefsteak. I’ll mark yoy for sixty days.’.’ “Oh! gosh! gosh!” goshl” ekclftimed the prisoner. * ... ,~f „ “Be cajm, Mr. Taylor—Sit down and be composed. “ I can’t—oh! let me go!” “Go back in there, find an easy chair, and get your hair combed ups to make a favorable impression on the driver of the Black Maria. The decision has been made and can’t be changod.” , ~ : A BROKER. / “John 8. Newton, what is your business?” asked the Court of a big mgu with a sullen look. ' “Broker.” he growled. “ What do you break ?” ■ “Nothing.” “ Then how- are you a broker?’’ ’ “ I buy notes and sell 'em, and discount paper, and so forth.” “ Where does all this happen?” , “Home.” . “ Whpre is'your home?” 1 “Oh, dowtt hqre.” “Mr. Newton, you were drunk last night. While irf that condition you entered a grocery and fell into a basket of eggs, abused the proprietor, and-tried to pass yourself off as Prof. .Tice, of St. Louis.” ; . “It’s no suCh thing,” bluntly replied the broker. “Mr. Newton,” said ljis Honoi;, bending over the desk, “ do you intimate that this Court is a liar ?” • “N—no.” “Very well, Mr. Newton. That takes a great burden off' my mind. Nqw, then, do you want four or five officers to stand up and swear that you were drunk?” “No.” “ Very well, again. The sentence is a line of ten dollars or thirty days in the House of Correction.” The broker slowly counted out the money, and as he was ready to go His Honor said: “ Mr. Newton, as you are a stranger in town we may never meet again. My advice to you is to be more civil, improve your grammar and drink forty gallons of water to one drop of whisky.” NO ACCUSER. “ Little Mrs. Graham, the charge against you is drunkenness and disturbing the peace.” “I don’t care what the charge is, I never disturbed the peace, and I’ve been in this town forty years and no one ever saw me drunk!” she exclaimed. “ Mrs. Graham, will you speak a little slower, and put in more commas and periods in your answers?” “ Show me the man who says I was drunk when ,! was working hard all day and when I’m the honestest woman in Detroit—show me the man!” “ The aforesaid man will please come forward,” remarked the Court. No one came. “Call him—calk him—call him!” squeaked the little woman. “Is the officer here who arrested this fast-talking and highly-indignant female?” No answer. “ There! there! there!” squeaked Mrs. Graham, jumping up and down. “Mrs. Graham, I have called and he answers not. I don’t see how I can convict you, and therefore I suspend sentence. Go home and be happy!” “Yum! yum! yum!” she chuckled, as she hurried out, and Bijah said that heaven was made up of small women. A STRANGE DEFENSE. “ And Jerry Thomas, you are here with the rest,” said His Honor to the next. , “ 1 am, sir.” j “That’s right, Jerry, always respond promptly to civil questions and- speak tlie truth when you speak at all.. Now about that little affair last evening? Were you leaning up against the fence because you were tired?” “ No, sir; Iliad the eai - ache.,’’ “Ah-ha! And did the earache induce you to kick at the officers?” “Yes, “ And to roll one of them in the mud ?” “ Yes, sir.” “ And to oblige them to draw: you down here in a cart?” “ Yes, sir.” n “ Well, I’ll make a law against the earache, and under its provisions I fine you ten dollars.” “You can’t do it!’’ “ But I have done it.” “ But 1 won’t pay!” “Then you go up for thirty days. “ But I won’t!” “ But you have already gone!” And Bijah led him away.— Detroit Free Press. ■

[From the New York Tribune.)

A Want Supplied.

The American mind is active. It has given us books of fiction for the sentimentalist, learned books for the scholar and professional student, but few books for the people. A book for the people must relate to a subject of universal interest. Such a subject is the physical man, and such a book “ Tub People’s Common Sense. Medwat. Adviser,” a copy of which lias been recently laid on our talrie. The high professional attainments of ifs author—Dr. R. V. Pierce, of Buffalo, N. Y.—and the advantages derived by him from an extensive practice would alone insure for his work a cordifi! reception. But these are not the merits for which it claims our attention. The author is a man of the people. He sympathizeis'witli them in all thcar afflictions, efforts and attainments. He perceives their wanV-Oi ‘ fc.iowfedge *>f theomelvee— and, believing tjiat all truth should be made as universal as God’s own sunlight, from his fund of tainting and experience he has produced a wpfkbi which he gives them the benefits Of his Minors. In it he considers num in eyery his existence, from the moment he emerges “from a rayless atom, too diminutive for the sight, until he gradually evolves to the maturity of those t'otucioux Porar* the exercise of which.furnishes subjective evidence of our immortality." Proceedrno upon the theory that every fact of iniud has a physical antecedent, he has given ah admirable Treatise on Cerebral Physiology, and shown the bearv ings of the facts thus established upon individual und social welfare. jThe author believes with Spencer that,’ “as vigorous health and its accompanying high spirits are larger elements of happiness than uny other things whatever, the teaching how to maintain them is a teaching that yields to no other whatever, 1 ;’ and aecordiiigly has intrbsd duccd an extensive discussion of tire methy ods by which we may preserve the integrity, of the system and ofttinles prevent the onset* of disease. Domestic Remedies—their preparation, uses and effects—form a prominent feature of the work. The hygienic treatment, ornursingof the sick,is an important subject, and receives attention commensurate with its Importance. Nearly aU'diseases “to which flesh is heir” are described, their symptoms and causes explained and proper domestic treatment suggested. To/eciproCate the mfiiiy favors bestowed upoii him by a generous public, the author offers his book at a price ($1.50) li|tle exceeding the cost of publication. Our readers can obtain this practical and valuable work by addressing the author.